Apparatus for simultaneously forming cartons and delivering a product thereinto



July 15-, 1969 J. HALL 3,455,087

APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING CARTONS AND DELIVERING A PRODUCT THEREIN'IO Filed Feb. 28, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 53 o 3 1 43 I/ I 7| I 33 67 \fq 5| 5m 57 0 L 50 I k o if 7o 49 a 0 4a 44 I 46 45 l0 Elli-.1

Inventor JOHN HA LL A Llorney;

July 15, 1969 J. HALL 3,455,087

APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING CARTONS AND DELIVERING A PRODUCT THEREINTO Filed Feb. 28. 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor J'oHN HA LL Atlorneys July 15, 1969 J. HALL 3,455,087

APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING CAHTONS AND DELIVERING A PRODUCT THEREINTO Filed Feb. 28, .1986 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 DI D 0 H B D T T I 2 Inventor JOHN HALL.

B v 5 z Attorney;

July 15 1969 HALL 3,455,087 APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING CARTONS AND Filed Feb. 28, 1966 DELIVERING A PRODUCT THEREINTO 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I nvenlor TOHN HAL L fi gap v A A tforneys United States Patent APPARATUS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY FORMING CARTONS AND DELIVERING A PRODUCT THEREINTO John Hall, Bolton, England, assignor to Bemrose & Sons Limited, Derby, England Filed Feb. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 530,569 Int. Cl. B65b /02, 3/02, 47/00 US. Cl. 53-192 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A carton forming apparatus has means for holding a carton blank vertically adjacent a die, a hollow punch member horizontally movable towards and into the die to partially fold the carton therein, and a product delivering device movable through the hollow punch to deliver a product into the paritally folded carton and operative to hold the product therein while the folding process" is completed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Apparatus according to the invention will perform the successive operations of breaking the creases in the blank, folding up the walls of the tray and lid portions of the carton, and after the product has been fed in, close up the lid and tray and secure them.

The invention comprises a travelling hollow punch or male component having means causing it to move into engagement within a forming die or female component shaped to form the lid portion of the carton (or the tray as the case may be) and fold up the tray portion (or in the alternative case the lid portion) so that the two main portions of the carton are at an angle of approximately 90 to each other, after which continuing travel of the male component is arranged to carry the partly formed carton, together with the product which has been fed into it, into a closing mechanism, which acts to close the lid and tray portions together.

In the preferred arrangement the carton blank is held in a vertical position and the travel of the male component is in a horizontal direction, one part of the carton blank being in register with the male component with the other part depending below it, and the action of the male and female components lifting the depending part of the carton up to a substantially horizontal position.

After the formation of the carton the male component is made to retract and a product-retaining device preferably moves into register with the now horizontal portion of the carton to retain the product therein while the closing operations are completed.

Constructional forms of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a general perspective view of a typical machine.

FIGURE 2 is a part elevation from the opposite side of the machine.

FIGURE 3 is an elevation of a typical carton blank in a flat condition.

ice

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the partly erected condition of the carton.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective fragmentary view showing a modified form of the male and female components and associated parts looking from the same side of the machine as in FIGURE 2.

In the ensuing description the terms lid and tray are used arbitrarily, as it does not follow that the part which for the sake of convenience in description is called the lid will necessarily be uppermost in use, and equally the part which for the sake of convenience is called the tray will not necessarily be the lower part in use.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the machine comprises a frame 10 having horizontal rails 11 on which a carriage 12 is mounted on rollers 12a for to-and-fro movements imparted to it by means of a linkage 15. As shown this linkage may be operated by a driving wheel 16 but any suitable handle or other means may be used, and if a driving wheel such as 16 is provided it may be operated from any suitable source of power.

When the carriage 12 is thus operated it moves along rails 11 from the feeding or front end of the machine towards the discharging or rear end, that is to say from right to left in FIGURE 1. This movement constitutes the working stroke of the carriage and its associated parts to be described, after which the carriage is retracted and certain closing operations to be described are effected during the retraction movement.

At its feed end the carriage carries an upstanding bracket 18 which supports a channel-shaped feed tray 19 which is formed with or carries at its front end a punch 20 which constitutes a male component and which registers with a forming die constituting a female component, so that as the feed tray and punch are advanced on the advancing stroke of the carriage the punch moves into and through the forming die whose mouth is defined by four freely rotatable rollers 25 forming the perimeter of a square or rectangular aperture corresponding to the lid portion of the blank which rests upon and is correctly located by supports 28. The lid portion is held in register with the aperture so that the working stroke of the punch causes the punch to press on the lid portion of the carton blank and push it into the mouth of the forming die. At each of four corners of the die aperture there is a forwardly projecting finger or plough, two of which are seen at 26, and these act to flex the front and back deltas of the carton lid and of the back wall of the carton which connects the lid with the tray. These deltas are acted upon before the rollers 25 come into action. The continuing travel of the punch 20 pushes the carton lid and tray fully home through the mouth of the forming die, and into a nesting box 30, where the top delta creases D of the lid relax but are closed in again when the punch at the limit of its travel pushes the lid portion of the carton into a closing head 32, suitably profiled for the purpose. The closing head is formed with projections or fingers 33 having hook-like profiles on their underside, which act to trap the front wall of the carton and retain it in the head. As the feed tray advances integrally with the punch a paddle device or pusher 34 working within the channel shaped feed tray 19, but accelerating in relation to the speed of the punch and feed tray, moves into register and so presents the product or charge to be packaged within 3 the confines of the nesting box 30 and thus within the tray portion of the carton itself.

When the carriage and punch are retracted the punch leaves the nesting box and forming die but leaves the paddle 34 in register beyond the feed tray so that the product which is to be packed in the carton is thus retained by the paddle when the feed tray is retracted along with the punch. It is important that the punch is hollow so that while it is performing its work on the blank the product can be fed in simultaneously without loss of time in the cycle of operations.

During the greater part of the retraction movement of the feed tray and punch no other mechanical movements are taking place, but when the carriage 12 carrying these components is almost at the end of its retraction stroke a lever 40 actuated by the driving wheel 16 actuates further levers 41, 42, 43 and 44, shaft 45 and linkage 15. The shaft 45 carries an actuating hook 46, and as the shaft 45 makes a limited amount of rotation the hook 46 engages with a double link 48 fixed on a countershaft 49. The countershaft 49 carries two crank arms 50 to which are attached tie rods 51 which are respectively connected to pivoted levers 52 and 53, pivoted on a shaft 52w. When the tie rods are raised by the crank arms the levers 52 and 53 are rocked and thereby move the closing head 32, to which they are connected, in a downward direction. This pivotal movement of the closing head folds down the lid portion of the carton over and around the tray portion which has already received the appropriate amount of the product. It also actuates a hinged plate 54 mounted on the shaft 52a, which erects the back wall of the carton.

In the closing operation the depending sides of the lid are engaged between the side plates of the nesting box 30 and the front wall of the lid is engaged by the profiles on the fingers 33 on the closing head 32. These same profiles also maintain clearance between the front deltas and the inside face of the front of the lid. Simultaneously the front wall of the tray portion is folded upwards by means of a hinged plate 60 which has a roller 61, see FIGURE 2, at one side, carried by a rocker arm 62, and a cam-like extension 53b of the lever 53 engages with the roller as the head closes, so that the roller rides round the cam profile, rocking the arm 62 and turning the hinged plate 60 upwards. Thus the front wall of the tray is inclined upwards towards the descending front wall of the lid.

The hinged plated 60 carries a projection 65 which bears on the front wall of the tray just above the slot in the front wall, and exposes the slot ready to receive the co-operating tab on the front wall of the lid. The details of the blank are seen in FIGURES 3 and 4, where T is the tray and L the lid, B the back wall connecting the lid with the tray, T the front wall of the tray with slot T L the front Wall of the lid with tab L The back wall corner deltas are indicated at D and the lid corner deltas at D The tab L is first flexed inwards at its extremities by the action of projections on the closing head when the blank is first pushed through it. The slotT is initially sprung by the rising of the projection 65 working against the weight of the paddle 34 which is slightly lifted during its retraction by a cam profile 67 on a bracket 67 upstanding from the frame to enable it to ride over the now inclined plate 60.

As the carton is closed the next blank is positioned on the machine conveniently taken from a block or stack of blanks carried by a holder bracket alongside or above the loading position. As this next blank is presently formed by the next forward working stroke of the punch, its lid portion will enter the forming die and act to push the previously filled and closed carton from the rear end of the machine where suitable provision is made to receive it. The cycle of operations thus continues.

The return movement of the closing head by which it is reset is made under the action of a spring 70 when the operating links are retracted. It is necessary to provide some lost motion in the linkage during a considerable part of the cycle of operations, for which purpose slotted connections are provided at 71.

Various modifications of the apparatus in detail respects are possible. FIGURE 5 shows a different form of the hollow punch 20, forming die 30 and closing head 32. The rollers 25 are replaced by two vertical guide bars 75 whose action on the sides of the lid is next followed up by the action of a top horizontal bar 76 having a curved face 76a, which folds down the front wall L of the lid including the adjacent deltas D The punch 20 is of a slightly different shape having one side wall cut away at 20. If desired both sides of the hollow punch may be open, the top and bottom plates being connected by a vertical connecting piece at the rear end. The punch has lugs 74 the leading ends of which engage the product and ensure that it is carried forward into the carton tray. A plunger 77 having a domed end 77 is actuated either mechanically or (as shown) from a fluid pressure cylinder 78; the plunger 77 moves horizontally inwards through the side wall of the forming die 30 and acts as a retaining bar for the product. The gap 20 in the punch enables the punch to pass by the plunger 77 when the punch is retracted. In this arrangement the closing head 32 is operated by a lug 80 on the hinged plate 54, which, together with the closing head 32 is mounted on the shaft 52. The cam 81 replaces the cam 53. The closing head 32 has a horizontal bar 82 which rides along curved slots 83 in the side walls of the nesting box. Before the punch 20 moves in between the guide bars 75 it strikes and trips a hinged forming plate 85 pivoted at 85 at the mouth of the nesting box which is thereby swung upwards so that the fingers 85 flex and break the deltas D, FIGURE 3, inwardly.

I claim:

1. A carton forming apparatus comprising a frame, a male component constituting a hollow punch mounted for to and fro movement on the frame, means connected to the punch for effecting the movements thereof, means for holding a carton blank in a substantially vertical position with one of two main portions of the blank comprising a tray and a lid of the carton in register with the punch and the other portion of the blank depending below it, a female component comprising a forming die mounted on the frame in register with the punch, means for moving said punch in a substantially horizontal direction into said die to act upon the one portion of the carton and force it into the forming die and to lift the other portion of the cart-on up to a substantially horizontal position and to move the carton thus partially formed through said forming die, product delivering means mounted for movement through said hollow punch to deliver the product into the partially formed carton in said die, and closing means positioned to receive the carton from the forming die and close it.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 having a product retaining device mounted in register with the punch, and means connected to said device to cause it to remain in register with the horizontal part of the carton while the punch is retracted, said punch and said product retaining device being so shaped that the punch in its travel can pass the product retaining device.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 having a feed tray connected to and carrying the punch, said feed tray being shaped to receive the product which is to be fed into the carton.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which said closing means comprises a closing head, a member pivotally mounted on the closing head, means acting on said member to cause it to move pivotally downwards and close the vertical portion of the carton down into cooperation with the horizontal portion, means associated with the closing head positioned to engage with front walls on the tray and lid portions of the carton, and actuated so as to move those walls into position for final closing and securing and a plate associated with the closing head and organized to move pivotally and thereby erect a back wall portion of the canon connecting the lid and tray portions thereof.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said closing means comprises a closing head, a member pivotally 5 mounted on the closing head, means acting on said member to cause it to move pivotally downwards and close the vertical portion of the carton down into cooperation with the horizontal portion, and members on the closing head positioned to engage with delta portions in the corners of the carton and prepare them for inward folding as the lid and tray portions come together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1964 Otto 53-376 X 5/1967 Lefief 9351 

